CH 1. How can people best cope with technology overload?

Technology overload has brought great influence to us. It breaks the traditional mode of production, and largely cut down the cycle of products. As is known to us, essential technology determines the life of one product under the traditional mode of production. However, Glaser (2009) argues that in the digital age, technology is not important any more, and is given up or left unused, especially the mature technology; thus, developers are anxious to turn such technologies into products and sell them out, resulting in consumers’ choices are magnified infinitely. For example, there are little essential difference of technology between whether Apple’s iPhone or Google’s Android phones. They just combine different things or tools together, which looks like a new one, to attract consumers.

Therefore, to cope with technology overload, we should go back to the origin of design and technology, that is, to pursue the nature of products. In the period of technology overload, patent is not so important, and the important one is the creative. Technology is imitated one by one, resulting in the technology overload. Designers should reconsider the allocation of social resources and decrease radical and lavish conditions. To pursue the nature of products not only meets consumers’ necessity and reduce the waste, but also conforms to consumers’ pursuing natural psychology in this competitive and digital age.

CH 2. Can computers think?

With the function of computers more and more powerful, such as simulating the changes of weather or stock market, replying our sounds automatically, etc., computers become more and more intelligent. People cannot help but doubting whether computers can think. In my opinion, computers in the future can think.

Alan Turing, the father of artificial intelligence, first put forward the concept of machine thinking in the 1950s. He proposed a test standard to judge whether computers could be considered to be thinking: if one computer could behave, react and make interactions exactly like conscious individual, the computer should be regarded as a conscious one (Kurzweil, 1990). He gave another definition about machine thinking from the perspective of behaviorism. He put forward a hypothesis that one person asks the other side a series of questions out of touch it by special means; if the person cannot judge whether the other side is a person or a computer according to those questions for a long time, the computer can be said to have equal intelligence as human beings do, that is, the computer can think (Kurzweil, 1990). With the rapid development of technology, the day that the hypothesis is realized is coming close.

Recently Swiss scientists say they have studied a kind of microchip that can imitate the mode of human beings’ brains’ processing information (Russell, 2003). This symbolizes that the outbreak of computer technology goes forward and computers will become smarter by using the nerve-like chips to build man-made nerve system. The new microchips can make computers continue working even if some parts of the computers are broken, which is just like human beings’ brains, losing millions of brain cells but continuing working and thinking. Scientists use these man-made nerves to imitate human beings’ nerves and build nervous structures. These structures have functions of temporary memory, analysis and decision-making.

Nowadays, technologies go forward faster and faster in the information economy era. I think computer technology will get more and faster outbreaks in the future. In the soon future, computers must transcend themselves and enter the age of thinking to serve human beings better.

CH 9. Should you worry about cell phone, cellular antenna and Wi-Fi device radiation?

To discuss the question, the author introduces the definition of radiation first. Radiation, in physics, is a process in which electromagnetic waves travel through a vacuum or through matter-containing media; the existence of a medium to propagate the waves is not required. Electromagnetic radiation is one of the most common radiations and divided into radio and microwave signals, radiant heat, visible light and ultraviolet, and x-rays and gamma rays from the frequency of the waves (Net 1). Cell phone, cellular antenna and Wi-Fi device radiation are the most common sources of radiation around our life.

Debates on whether cell phone, cellular antenna and Wi-Fi device radiation are harmful have not been stopping ever since. As they have the same principles on radiation to some extent, I just take cellular phone radiation as an example to analyze its influence. The peak power (a scalar to measure signal strength) of cell phone is 2W, which is much lower than the standard set by American IEEE (7W), let alone Chinese strict standard (Net 2). Meanwhile, the base station is 35.55 meters high, which is far lower Chinese limited standard (Net 2). Moreover, in the scientific common sense, radiation od cell phone and its base station cannot do harm to human beings’ health.

Therefore, I do think it is no use to worry about cell phone, cellular antenna and Wi-Fi device radiation.

Reference

Glaser M. (2009). 5 Across: How to Deal with Technology Overload. London: Bergin and Garvey.

Kurzweil R. (1990). The Age of Intelligent Machines. Boston: MIT Press.

Russell S. (2003) Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Prentice Hall. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Net 1: Please refer to the website listed on May 20, 2014

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation).

Net 2: Please refer to the website listed on May 20, 2014